


Dystopia: A Variant Adventure

by BlueLightningAndNexus



Series: Blue Lightning and Nexus' Multiverse [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Dystopian, POV First Person, POV Multiple, Science Fiction, Superhuman abiilities, World War III, caring for children, duh - Freeform, mutations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:39:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24481390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueLightningAndNexus/pseuds/BlueLightningAndNexus
Summary: Set in an alternate universe where the world was faced with a third World War and a second American Civil War, what is left of the United States is split up among four nations. This story will focus mainly on the Federation States and Liberty States of America, as well as the Kingdom of Isla, three of those nations. Amidst a constantly changing world, Private Military Companies fill in some of the gaps in power.Children with "imperfections" are called Variants. Some of these mutations can be beneficial to the military; those that aren't are cast aside. This story focuses on five main characters: Ana Lancaster, daughter of one of the world's top PMCs, who runs away from home to escape an arranged marriage; Halo, Sparrow and Bane, who all run a shelter for Variant children; and Cyrus Castiel, who has only just ascended to a world of luxury and uses his newfound resources to hunt down Ana in an attempt to collect the bounty on her head.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Series: Blue Lightning and Nexus' Multiverse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1798072





	1. Part I: Ana

Some say, after World War III, the entire planet started to tear itself apart. Considering what I know, I have no choice but to agree with that.

It's Friday, meaning dad is going to be all his employees today, meaning everyone is buzzing with excitement. It makes sense. Money's been tight after the three straight economic crashes following WWIII, the Second Great American Civil War, and WWIV, the last one of which was hardly 15 years ago. I know because it was the day of my birth. Apparently, the stress of hearing that moms family was killed in the Brazil bombings while visiting my (late) uncle Reed caused mom to go into labor. I was born two weeks prematurely. Well, not exactly. I was a c-section due to the immensity of the complications at my birth, and that night, a mere four minutes before the cold knife pierced my mothers warm flesh, the war ended due to the Mexican Reign surrendering after Brazil and Cuba were simultaneously destroyed.

I let out a sigh of relief as the last of Lancaster Pegasus Alpha's directors leave the room. I am now free to think my own thoughts instead of whatever bullcrap dads trying to shove down my throat about business management. I'm still in post-party mode despite it being almost two weeks since my birthday because we simultaneously celebrated the victory of the Combined Powers (New Britain, Ilsa, the Liberty States, New Japan, and the Neoteric Republic of Korea) over the Mexican Reign and New Asia. In my defense, my party mode personality is in part due to Lyra and Deryn convincing mum and dad to let me take work off for the next ten days to make up for my missed vacation time (a result of mom, who has convinced spending four hours daily attending meetings in New Japan for eight days straight earlier this year counted as vacation).

My mind instantly goes to the news article I read this morning; something about how imperfects have spiked in population in the last 16 years, and how lately (and against governmental wishes), shelters have been set up in the poor parts of the country, particularly Tempestatis, to protect these imperfects.

I exhale a sigh of relief; I know that, no matter what happens, I am safe behind my parents security. As the world crumbles, I know that Deryn, Lyra and myself are safe.

A knock pulls me from my state of serenity and I look up; papa is there, and he is scowling.

"Father," I say to him as he stands there and emits an aura of frustration, anger, and disgust all in one, "what brings you here? I thought you had a meeting with the three communication leaders two floors up."

"I am here," he said as he menacingly walked towards me and scratched his nails against the light, thick, wooden table, "because the meeting ended early, and I heard from one of my advisors that you didn't participate in the meeting down here."

"Papa, I-"

"I don't want to here your excuses," he said as he raised a hand authoritatively. "You will participate in the meeting tomorrow, or you will be removed from this family."

"You can't remove me fr-"

"I can," he stated, "and I will."

Papa smirked and began to stroll through the door, but a thought popped into my mind. "Father?" I asked. 

"What is it, scum."

"There isn't a meeting tomorrow."

"Well," he said as he slid his long, dirty fingernails along the glass wall, "there is one now."

Papa left, and I fell back onto my chair, head in my hands. How could he do this? I have another three years of this, then my life becomes a living hell once I get the company. 

Suddenly, Jamie came through the door. 

I had known Jamie since we were kids, and his presence in the room made me smile. 

"Its good to see you," I said as I walked up to him and gave him a hug. 

"You to," he said as he pulled away. 

"Why are you here?" I asked. 

"Your father sent me here to get some files." Ever since Jamie became my dad's secretary, he had always been sending him off on some task. "I heard it was something about a transfer of semi-automatic weapons to an Order Federation border for the company."

"Oh yeah," I said, "Peter Rlay handed these to me and said that someone would be here by noon to check them out."

"Yeah," said Jamie as he took the file. "Thanks. Also, I was supposed to show you this file on a transfer of vehicles to the border of the Neo America-Russia Imperium. Something about wanting to give extra support to soldiers out there should a threat on the borders ever arise. "

Jamie laid out one file on the table, before reading a description at the top saying "FEDERATION STATES BATTLES AFTERMATH". 

"Oh, wait," said Jamie as he examined the description, "nevermind. This isn't it."

"Wait," I said as I held out my hand to reach for the file, "what was that. I didn't know that we had another fight on the borders recently."

Jamie pulled it away. "i'm sorry," he said, "But your father's orders are that only people with E1 Gold level access can read this file. Even I'm not allowed to read it, and I had to pass it on."

"To who?" I asked. Then I remembered: the only people with level E1 Gold access are my dad and the COO of this company, John Bridge, two floors down. 

"Why did my dad want to keep this file a secret from me?" I wondered out loud. "He's always telling me I have to take responsibility for this company, but even thought that won't happen for another three years, he's never denied me access to any information like this, especially considering I have E2 Silver level access."

"I wish I knew," said Jamie. The four highest ranking people in this company in ascending order are myself, at E2 Silver, the Director of Weapons Supervision, at E1 Silver, my mom, the communications manager and wife of the CEO, at E2 Gold, and my dad and Mr. Bridge, at E1 Gold. 

I eyed Jamie suspiciously, but allowed him to hand over the vehicle transfer form. 

_________________________________________________________

It was about forty-five minutes past midnight when I snuck into the filing section of floor four. 

Honestly, for a Private Military Company, you would think the security would be better. Maybe it has something to do with being the eldest child of the CEO, practically being raised by the people in the company, knowing the in's-and-out's of this particular security system, and making a game out of cracking it as a kid. Oh well. 

My train of thought suddenly shifts and tightens. I realize that with the state my mind is currently at, being too distracted by what Jamie could've possibly hid from me, that I might accidentally trip a laser alarm and never find out. 

I narrowly avoid the last four lasers in this hallway using my gymnastic skills, the last one with relative ease, before getting up, turning left to the storage center, avoided six more lasers (this time they were invisible to the human eye) that sprouted from the walls at diagonal angles, and found a door that had electronic writing on it; the electronic read "Archives". 

I smirked. I hadn't done this in a while. At least two and a half years since Linda Diamond dared me to find dirt on a COO for my half-birthday in an extreme party game. Still, I managed to remember the way. It's as mom said: a woman can do anything she sets her mind to, a Lancaster can achieve anything, and I have the pleasure of being both. 

I pulled out two long, copper picks and one, shorter, tin one. Apparently, the locks on the doors that are between floors three and six are so delicately secured, that you can only pick it with certain types of metal. Copper happens to be one of these, and don't even tell me how Deryn figured this out, much less why he told me, or how he got copper since it dropped in quantity nearly 22 years ago after all the major copper mines got the crap bombed out of them in the Second Civil War. 

I carefully placed the longer of the two copper picks and the tin one in the hole where the key is supposed to go, before placing the shorter copper one in my right ear for future use, slightly turning the tin one, and alternating between sliding the copper and tin ones into the hole. Eventually, I heard a small click, practically nonexistent if your bodyguards haven't insisted on practicing basic stealth since you were four, placed the second copper one in the space between the other two locks, pulled the tin one out, and pushed both copper ones in at the same time. 

A second, slightly louder click was heard, and I took this to signify that the lock-picking process worked. I slowly opened the door, and breathed in the smell of coffee with extra sugar; to say the least, the directors that work up here don't have the best track record when it comes to staying awake during boring meetings. 

On that first set of lasers, I took an extra seventeen seconds when I accidentally got stuck between some vertical, horizontal and diagonal security lasers I forgot about. This, coupled with the fact that I spent an extra four seconds on the lock and an extra two earlier caught in my train of thought, meant that the nightly guard for this part of the fourth floor was going to come any minute; I had no time to lose. 

As quietly as I could move in black combat boots, I bolted over to a set of three filing cabinets shoved against the wall, and chose the one on the far left, before sticking my short copper and tin picks into the keyhole, turned the tin one four times to the left and thrice to the right, and the tin one once to the left, before hearing a satisfying click. I quickly opened the cabinet, and instantly noticed that my hunch was right; any information regarding battles that the Lancaster Pegasus Alpha Cooperation participated in or instigated in the last six-to-seven months was in here. 

I found the "F" section, found the file that Jamie showed me, and quickly opened it. My eyes had adjusted to the dark after spending nearly an hour trying to get to this floor, so I could read the "FEDERATION STATES BATTLES AFTERMATH" label clearly. With a smirk on my lips (as if screaming "take that dad!") I opened it, but my smirk turned to a frown, then a scowl of terror instantly. 

On the left page of the file was a set of five pictures showing Asian-American families (probably from New Asia, judging by the darker skin tone and slightly more sunken eyes) being escorted into slave barracks. 

I almost dropped the file in shock, almost let my guard down and gasped. I heard footsteps from two hallways over. I quickly scanned the right side, and it was filled with statistics about how oriental families had been taken by the Liberty States forces. 

It was too horrifying to even think about, but the conclusion was inevitable:

The Lancaster Cooperation was using captured immigrant families as slaves...as prizes for their victories. 

I had to channel all of my willpower into not reading the rest of the file, as that would be my end. I put it back in its position in the "F" section of the cabinet, closed the cabinet door, walked/galloped out of the room, and closed the door. 

My breathing was ragged, my legs shaking, and sweat was building up on my forehead. And it had nothing to do with the physical activity of the night. 

The footsteps were now one, maybe three-quarters of a hallway away. Thank goodness whoever was guarding the Storage Center was feeling especially slow today. I quickly ran off to the right, the direction I came, and knew one thing for sure in a sea of darkness and uncertainty: dad was going to answer for this.


	2. Part II: Bane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We are introduced to another main character, Bane, as he spies on government official Talia Silas, niece of the Prime Administrator of the Liberty States.

I've only spent twenty-two minutes in the rain, and I'm already frozen to the bone.

The storm clouds ahead are so dark that the sun is completely obscured, despite it being 7:00 in the evening on a spring day. My flesh arm aches from holding myself in this position for so long.

Using all four of my limbs, including my metallic left arm, I'm successfully holding myself in position in the corner between two alley walls. My steel blue eyes are set on the metal door beneath me, where Talia Silas is due to emerge in five minutes.

After another 100 seconds, the strain on my flesh arm is overwhelming. Another fifteen seconds and my legs are consumed with pain. Planning out my alternative position, I clench my metal fist tighter into the bricks, and allow my other limbs to go slack. I fall forward a bit, with my metal arm still holding me to the wall, but my head hits a loose brick, and I see stars for a split-second. 

My robotic arm requires very little effort to operate, so it is still clutching to the wall no matter what I do at this time. I look down, checking the door, and almost instantly, a large, African man, possibly 7 foot and 2 inches, in a black-and-white suit with a red tie and a .36 caliber pistol walks out. Concluding for obvious reasons that this isn't Talia Silas, I continue to watch, thankful that my limbs gave out just before the door opened. After the first bodyguard, an Asian-Hispanic man and a Caucasian-Hispanic man of similar height to the first bodyguard walk out of the door. Finally, a young girl, maybe in her early twenties, walks out. She is in a red leather jacket, with midnight black heels, her nails colored a variety of colors, prominently turquoise and blood red. Her brown hair has two dark scarlet highlights on the left side, and her eyes are a disturbingly calm grey. 

A man on the other side of the metal door closes it, leaving Silas with her bodyguards. 

"Lady Silas," said the first bodyguard, "Administrator Prime Odin Thunder requests we come back to Arma immediately." 

"And why is that?" asked Talia. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm in the middle of a weapons deal right now."

The three bodyguards look questioningly at each other, as if they don't know how to convince a Noble Lady to obey the Administrator Prime of the Liberty States. Nonetheless, none of them look surprised. Definitely not the first time this has happened. 

"Well," said the second bodyguard, "we can only assume the protocol of stopping by Stitch to have him examine the weapons is unnecessary in this case."

"Why?" asked Talia. Her eyes begin to narrow into a scowl of annoyance. This is not a girl whose bad side you want to be on. "After all," she continued, "I already told my pilot to get me to Simulacrum by tomorrow afternoon."

"We got no definitive answer from Administrator Thunder, but he briefly mentioned he had dealt with these folks before. We can only assume that the weapons are of exceptionally high quality for Fidem Grassor firearms."

"Fine. I guess," said Talia as she angrily folded her arms. Honestly, thought Bane, she seemed like a child despite her noble status and age. 

"You know we can see you, right?"

I didn't even realize my neck was sagging before Talia's words snapped his head back up. I found the noble girl looking at me with her head tilted and a wide grin on her face. She looked somewhat sadistic...and more then a little maniacal. 

My blood froze, and the bodyguards feet gradually angled towards me. 

Then, in one sudden motion, all three bodyguards pointed their pistols at me. I leap off the wall, metal arm coming out of the hard bricks, and he bursts through the alley, crashing into the window of the next building over as white-hot lead rains down on him. 

I burst through the glass window, with tiny shards lining my shoulders and forearms. I land on my feet and roll, but my shins hurt from the impact, and the space of skin above my knee starts to throb. I look down and see that my clothing on my pants is cut, like a hot knife through butter; I must've been skimmed by a bullet. 

Suddenly, a massive burst of bullets comes flying against the wall. I hear the repeated clack of lead against thick stone and shells falling on the ground, and I scoff at the idiocy of these guards, who think they can fire through 5 inches of stone with their machine guns. Nonetheless, by the frequency of the shots, I know that they're close, and I bolt just as I hear Talia screaming at her bodyguards to stop shooting at the wall. 

Adrenalin is surging through my body, and I rush towards the nearest exit in the building I can find. It appears to be some kind of factory, abandoned for at least a couple years judging by the massive collections of dust on the floor, the factory lines being stuck in place, and the glass shattered and the stone cracked. I rush towards a metal door in the far left corner of the room that reads "Exit", leaping over a conveyor belt and sliding under another one in the process. Just as I hear the sound of metal on glass as the bodyguards burst through the already severely damaged windows with their guns, I am at the door and I push through it by ramming it with my right shoulder. 

The door is jammed. All that happens as I slam into it is that I hear my shoulder pop and pain pulses through it. By now, the bodyguards and Talia have heard the noise and have their guns aimed at me, but I instinctively punch my left arm through the door, ripping it to shreds with my metal fist, and hold out my hand in defense. I hear the familiar click-clank of metal-on-metal as bullets collide with my shielding and defensive extended left hand, and I run through the alley, and into the night.


	3. Chapter 3: Sparrow East

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sparrow goes out to find Bane. Narration shifts to third person because I couldn't take it anymore.

_I've gotten more experience in parenting from watching over kids my age then I have babysitting toddlers,_ Sparrow thought to herself. 

It's a Tuesday, so everyone that can is sent to go find other mutants so they can be sheltered. _We’ve gotten more busy than I expected in these last few weeks,_ she realized. "Opal," Sparrow said as she turned towards the platinum blonde, "how many people do we have in the shelter today?"

"Almost 40," she said as she looked over a list of names, "and I'm heading out with Lopus and Adric. Adric said that he found a family of mutants in Fidem the other day. We'll see if we can help them."

"If you see Bane," Sparrow said, "ask him about the progress with Talia Silas."

"Alright, Sparrow," she said, "I'll see you soon." Opal walked out the door, the light leaking from the building and shining off her platinum hair, wrapped into a tight bun. 

Sparrow turned around, looking at the many people in the shelter tonight; Luke, Sam, Simon and Benny are all crowded in the corner, Simon telling the others stories about his brother, Bane. Benny is laughing hysterically at the part where Bane defeats one of President Odin's bodyguards by slamming his foot in the man's groin, Sam is rolling his eyes because Bane already told him this story twice (albeit less dramatically), and Luke is only half-paying attention, skimming through his new book instead. 

"Kids," said Sparrow as she turned her body to the young imperfects, "Opal is heading out with Lopus and Adric for a while. If anything happens, Simon, you're in charge."

"What!" exclaimed Sam, Simon's elder by ten months, as Simon pumped his fists in victory and high-fived Benny. 

"But, why him?" asked Sam as he pointed to the other boy.

“He’s the youngest but the most responsible,” Sparrow told them. “Plus he has the most combat experience out of anyone here.”

“Not my brother?” Simon asked. “Not you or Halo?”

“Your brother isn’t here,” Sparrow told them. “Neither is Halo, and I’m departing soon.”

“Wait, why?” Sam asked. 

Sparrow grabbed her bag as she spoke, brushing a loose strand of black hair out of her eye. “I need to go out and find Bane, see if he’s still safe.”  
Sparrow looked around. The sewers that they had created their shelter in were far from ideal, but most definitely manageable. Sparrow and Halo had created this little haven in a rather spacious but abandoned part of the sewers that constituted Old Tempestatis, before the massive reconstruction that followed World War IV. The area they were in right now, in particular, was massive; deep underground where no one could hear the sound of children playing and laughing, yet wide enough that it gave them lots of space to set up shelter. Plus, with more kids around, it was getting easier and easier to manage; they had more hands to find more materials, assemble them, patrol the tunnels, and clean the parts that still needed sanitation. 

This central area, where most of the kids stayed, could house about 30 of them. Based on what Opal told her, it sounds like that wouldn’t be enough, but Sparrow was prepared for this possibility; the adjacent tunnels had been cleared out and were equipped to handle another family or two for the night. 

Right now, Sparrow was taking one of those adjacent tunnels as a shortcut up to the surface. She knew this sewers like the back of her hand, and if she remembered correctly (which she does, always), this would lead her up to the 4th Ward of Tempestatis. Perfect. It wouldn’t be too packed this time of night, so nobody would see her exit the sewers, and it was only a couple of blocks from where she agreed to meet Bane. 

Sparrow walked through the tunnels, which got progressively more cramped and narrow with each corner she rounded, until she found herself at a rusty ladder leading up. She turned around, giving a quick check of the area, only to find Benny standing next to her. 

“What are you doing?” she asked sternly. “You can’t come with me.”

“I know that!” he said. “But...well, I just wanted to tell you good luck.” He paused for a moment, considering his words. “And, also, please bring Bane back safely, okay?”

Sparrow softened, and she thought her heart would burst. She kneeled down to Benny’s level and pulled him into a hug. 

“I’ll be back soon, alright little man?”

“Alright,” he said, burying his face in her shoulder. 

She pulled away after a couple of seconds, roughing his dark brown hair. “Go back with the others and help set up, alright?”

He nodded and turned around, running off back to the main area. Sparrow shook her head. “Man, I love these kids,” she said wistfully. 

_______

Pulling off the manhole cover, Sparrow found herself in a wide alley deep in the 5th Ward. She internally cursed; her predictions were off, and she was even farther away from Bane’s location than she liked. She’d have to get moving quickly. 

Crawling out of the hole, Sparrow analyzed her surroundings, trying to figure out where she was. After checking a nearby street sign and making sure she wasn’t being watched or followed, she took off eastward and made her way to Bane. 

She only made it a couple of blocks, running at a steady pace, before she heard gunshots, followed by the sound of shouting and a bloodcurdling scream. _What the hell is going on?_ she thought to herself. Taking cover behind a nearby car, she heard the sound of rapid footsteps. 

_Alright, think quickly_ , Sparrow told herself. _Clearly someone found your location and is in hot pursuit._ Remembering the basics of her combat training, Sparrow took a fighting stance (or at least as close to one as she could get crouched behind cover), and leaped out from behind the car, ready to strike. 

...only to run right into Bane, the two teenagers accidentally knocking one-another on the ground. 

“Sparrow?” he asked. Before she had time to respond, he leapt to his feet and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her out of the street and behind a nearby building. The two waited for one moment, then two, then five. When the coast seemed clear and it didn’t look like anyone was in pursuit of them, Bane let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding...and Sparrow immediately punched him in the shoulder. 

“OW!” he shouted. “What the fuck was that for?” 

“What the hell did you do?” she hissed. “Why were those people shooting at you?”

Raising his hands in a surrender position, he replied “Hey, it’s not my fault. I was perfectly hidden, just listening in on their conversation. But that woman, Talia...there was something about her, Sparrow. I got a weird vibe from her.”

Sparrow raised an eyebrow. “You...got a vibe?” she asked, crossing her arms and unconvinced. 

“Hey, I’m just telling you what I felt! I was dead silent and she somehow sensed me without even looking at me. Her senses are sharp as hell, I’m telling you.”

Sparrow stroked her chin. “This isn’t good. She’s just an administrator. If what you’re saying is true, that means some of the other assassins are even better than she is.”

Bane nodded in agreement. “Zora Emerald, Nikolai, and Shiloh,” he murmured. “Those are three of the newest assassins, all supposed to be in town. At least, according to my sources, and according to what I overheard eavesdropping on Talia.”

“What for?” Sparrow whispered. “Why would three of the Liberty States’ best assassins come to our city?”

Bane sighed. “Sparrow...I think they’re hunting **us**.”

Sparrow’s jaw dropped, before she slammed her fist into the brick wall. “Fuck!” she half-whispered, half-shouted. 

Bane looked around, terrified that someone heard her outburst. “We should go.”

She sighed. “Agreed. We need to get out of here, quickly and quietly.”

Bane nodded. “Quickly and quietly,” he parroted.


End file.
